Facebook Growth is Now Officially 'Slow'

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Facebook's growth is slowing, largely due to the social network already snagging the majority of the Western world's Internet-using population.

In the United States, 71 percent of the nation's 221 million Internet users users ( that's 158 million people) are on Facebook. Growth just can't come quickly on that scale, according to the Wall Street Journal. That's why in April of this year, the social network only reported growth of about 5 percent, the lowest reported number since comScore began tracking it in 2008.

Previously, Facebook's numbers were dramatic: 24 percent in April 2011 and 89 percent in April 2010. But does that mean horrible things are to come?

Not necessarily. It means that once you become ponderous, it's harder to have dramatic growth. In order to have 20 percent growth again, Facebook would have to gain around 32 million users -- roughly the entirety of Canada. That would be pretty impressive.